STOCKHOLM & Mountain View, Calif., Dec. 4, 2013—Tobii Technology, the global leader in eye tracking, today announced the introduction of the Tobii EyeX Engine, a new middleware that will further drive the adoption of eye tracking in mainstream applications and devices. Using the Tobii EyeX Engine together with Tobii’s leading eye-tracking hardware, developers can rapidly create a natural, intuitive and consistent user experience across a wide range of applications. The Tobii EyeX Developer Kit, available for $195, includes the new Tobii EyeX Engine and SDK, the Tobii EyeX Controller – a brand new eye tracking device, out-of-the-box functionality through a variety of Windows-based applications, and access to the developer community.

The Tobii EyeX Engine is a unique and powerful middleware that provides a set of predefined user interactions which combine eye gaze with other modalities such as keyboard and touchpad. The Tobii EyeX Engine also takes care of the framework around the application, including functions such as calibrations and screen configurations and advanced data filtering techniques. This makes it possible for developers to rapidly add eye tracking capabilities to their application, while also ensuring that users get a consistent and intuitive user experience by making the most common actions, such as clicking, scrolling, zooming and switching all become more intuitive, natural and fun.

With the Tobii EyeX Engine developers can focus on innovation and creating new, amazing user experiences that are empowered by eye-tracking technology (see eye experience video). In addition to the predefined interactions, revolutionary new features can be added to make apps more responsive and games more immersive in ways that are not possible without eye tracking.

“In order for a new user interface technology like eye tracking to reach broad adoption in mass-market audiences, it has to be intuitive and extremely easy for the user to learn new ways of interacting with their device. The experience also needs to be consistent across a wide array of applications and devices,” said Henrik Eskilsson, CEO of Tobii Technology. “With Tobii EyeX, we have designed a carefully tuned, pre-defined set of interaction techniques and tools that put amazing creative power in the hands of our developer partners.”

The Tobii EyeX Development Kit is available for pre-order now for March 2014 delivery. The new Tobii EyeX Controller, included in the kit, is Tobii’s latest eye-tracking device being offered for developers. It will replace the Tobii REX Developer Edition, introduced in January, which is now being offered to developers eager to get started at a reduced rate of $295.

“Tobii is pioneering the integration of eye-tracking technology into mainstream consumer devices. With more than a decade of success in developing award-winning eye-tracking products for specialized industry segments, Tobii delivers unparalleled technology and expertise in interface design and integration that is needed for high-volume consumer devices,” said Carl Korobkin, vice president of Tobii OEM Solutions in the U.S. “Working closely with our hardware and software partners we’ll bring eye tracking to mainstream consumer devices in 2014.”